This invention is in the field of clothing and in particular protecting areas of garments from soiling and wear with an adhesive patch which could incorporate an advertisement.
It is well known that certain areas of garments become soiled and wear more quickly than others, for example the knee area of pants and the elbow area of shirts, sweaters and like tops. Children""s clothing is particularly susceptible to such soiling and wear because of the activities of the children.
Such areas often are the only area of a garment that is soiled, but the whole garment must be washed. Similarly these are often the only area that is worn, but the whole garment must be discarded. Protecting such areas from soiling and wear would be a great attraction to a child""s care-giver.
It is known to provide certain areas with reinforcement with a different material, however these permanently change the garments appearance, and are soiled the same as the rest of the garment.
Companies are constantly seeking new ways to advertise their wares. It is highly desirable to take any opportunity to keep a company""s name or logo before the public eye as much as possible. A company that could provide protection to a garment, such as a child""s pants, would find that care-givers were quite willing and even enthusiastic about displaying the company""s message to the public while providing the protection.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of protecting garments from soiling and wear, while at the same time allowing the garment to be restored to its original appearance if desired.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method that also provided opportunities for advertisers to increase their exposure to the public.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method wherein a removable and disposable adhesive patch is applied to the desired garment area, and wherein the adhesive patch could display an advertisers message.
The present invention provides in one aspect a method of protecting a garment area from soiling and wear, the method comprising adhesively attaching a flexible first adhesive patch to a desired garment area; removing and discarding the first adhesive patch and attaching a flexible second adhesive patch to substantially the same garment area.
Soiling and wear takes place on the patch, rather than on the garment. The patch can then be removed and discarded, and then replaced with a new patch.